The father of Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., soul singer Cuba Gooding Sr., was found dead Thursday. Sources tell PopWrapped that Cuba Gooding Sr. was found in his car, a silver Jaguar, unconscious and unresponsive. The car was parked on Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills, California. Officers of the local fire department attempted to revive him by performing CPR at the scene shortly before 1 p.m., but their efforts awarded no results. He was 72 and would have turned 73 next week.
Police are continuing to gather evidence to determine the exact cause of death, noting that there was no indication of foul play. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office stated that there were many bottles of alcohol and the presence of drug paraphernalia. Gooding Sr. may have died from a drug overdose, but nothing can be officially determined until a toxicology report has been generated.
Cuba Gooding Sr. was the lead singer for The Main Ingredient, a soul act most known for the hit, “Everybody Plays the Fool,” released in the 1970s.
His son, Cuba Gooding Jr., recently appeared on an episode of Inside the Actors Studio and spoke highly of his father, “I remember, one of my earliest memories … he would perform at Disneyland, and after his performances, they would close it off to the general public and all the performers’ kids would go on the rides as many times as they’d want. He would pull me up on stage with him and make me finish the song because I’d seen him perform all the time. It was a lot of feeling like, ’I come from royalty.’”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
